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A Canadian soldier has alleged that Afghan authorities routinely executed detainees his unit handed over to them, newly released documents show.

The stack of records released Thursday by the federal government also said detainees at a Kandahar prison told Foreign Affairs and Corrections Canada officials on a site tour that they had been tortured.

And they reveal that a Canadian military policewoman stationed at the Kandahar base was assaulted in early 2008 and told to mind her own business.

Questions have lingered since diplomat-whistleblower Richard Colvin’s allegations last year that most prisoners Canada transferred to Afghan custody were subsequently tortured.

The opposition parties have been pressing for full access to documents about the detainee transfers, saying they will help clarify what politicians and military commanders knew about the simmering affair.

Heavily censored

The government tabled more than 2,500 pages on the issue Thursday, but the heavily censored material was greeted with scorn by the opposition.

The accusation that detainees were killed by Afghan army or police officers comes from a Canadian soldier with the Royal Canadian Regiment who served in the Panjawi district. Upon returning to Canada, he told a military doctor treating him for stress about his concerns.

“After they handed over the detainee, the local authority would walk the detainee out of range and the detainee would be shot,” says a 2008 report on the soldier’s claims. “This occurred on more than one occasion.”

The doctor told investigators about his patient’s allegations since they involved possible criminal activity. He added that those who return from Afghanistan with stress-related conditions sometimes exaggerate, and that the killings may never have happened.

“But, the condition that he does have would not give him any reason to lie. Therefore, he may be telling the truth,” the report said.

‘Exhaustive inspection’

An April 2007 by a Foreign Affairs official who joined a Correctional Service of Canada staffer on an “exhaustive inspection” of the notorious National Directorate of Security facility in Kandahar City also cites claims of abuse.

Amnesty International has complained that military police failed to probe officers who directed the transfer of detainees to Afghan authorities despite knowing they might be tortured.

A February 2008 memo prepared at National Defence Headquarters by Capt. S.M. Moore noted “significant shortcomings and areas for concern with regard to the conduct of [military police] operations in Afghanistan.” Many of the problems “are systemic” and result from a lack of oversight, it said.

The memo notes a survey conducted “in theatre revealed that soldiers stated they had witnessed the abuse of detainees” — yet the information was not immediately passed on to military police.

It adds that on Feb. 15, 2008, two unknown individuals approached a female military police member when she exited the shower, grabbed her arms, pushed her against the shower wall and told her: “MPs mind your own business.”

Other documents suggest many of the military police assigned to Afghanistan lacked basic soldiering skills. The material was tabled in the House of Commons without translations, in no particular order, and with deletions on nearly every page.

Florida Panthers forward David Booth was helped off the ice after a shoulder hit to the head by Montreal Canadiens defenceman Jaroslav Spacek on Thursday night.

Booth, who missed 45 games this season with a concussion, was crossing the Montreal blue-line with his head down when Spacek stepped into him with a shoulder. The Panthers forward lay on the ice for several minutes and looked wobbly as he was escorted off the ice by trainers.

There was no immediate word on his condition.

Booth’s injury from a blindside hit by Philadelphia’s Mike Richards on Oct. 24 sparked a debate over headshots that eventually prompted the league to bring in stiff penalties for lateral or from-behind hits to the head for the rest of this season and the playoffs.

The hit by Spacek, who was not penalized on the play, was from the front.

Donald Fehr is the rumoured frontrunner to become the NHLPA’s executive director. (Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press)

Most of the player agents who departed the annual get-together with NHLPA officials in Toronto on Thursday felt that not only is Donald Fehr the right person to lead the troubled union, but he is interested in becoming the organization’s next leader.

Fehr ran the Major League Baseball Players Association for 25 years and, in retirement, the 61-year-ancient sports union leader was hired last fall as a non-paid consultant to the NHLPA. He has aided a player committee to re-write the constitution and advise another group on its search to find a new executive director.

The New York Post reported last weekend that Detroit Red Wings defenceman Brian Rafalski wrote a memorandum to the other 29 player representatives to swiftly proceed and offer the executive director’s role to Fehr.

Fehr would not comment on whether he has been questioned by the players to take the job. The most telling statement he made was that he would inform the players if or when he’s interested in becoming the executive director in case they would want to remove him from his position as consultant to the search and constitution committees.

“If I ever got to the place where I said, ‘This is a job I want’ and so on, then obviously that would have to be communicated,” Fehr said. “Having said that, the ultimate responsibility with governing this process rests with the players. As long as they’re informed, they’ll make whatever decisions they will. I’m not in a position to comment about the process beyond that.”

Most of the player agents who stopped after the meeting to talk to reporters — some on and some off the record — agreed that, although Fehr never came out and stated that he desired the job, there was a sentiment that Fehr would eventually agree to take the position small-term.

“I could see him come in and hire two or three guys under him and mentor one of them to eventually take over,” said one agent. “I believe it would be a well loved choice among us [agents].”

In describing Fehr’s presentation to update the agents on the re-writing of the NHLPA constitution and that the search for an executive director will not commence in full speed until after the regular season, the agents used words like “sharp,” “smart,” “intelligent” and “impressive” to described Fehr.

‘My role has been limited’

The only statement made by Fehr afterwards to reporters that indicated he would not be open to the NHLPA’s top job was when he was questioned why he retired from his job with baseball’s union. He remarked his main reason for retiring was because it was time to slow down — which won’t be the case if he decides to head up the NHLPA.

“The executive director’s position of this organization is not a slow-down position,” Fehr said. “And while I’ve been doing some work with them and while I’ve been consulting with them and trying to help as well as I can, this is far from a full-time job for me.

“I don’t have day-to-day choice-making responsibility. My role has been limited to the committees that the players questioned me to work on, plus whatever anyone happens to question me about.”

Still, powerful agent Pat Brisson, the representative for Sidney Crosby, Patrick Kane, Erik Johnson and others, endorsed the thought of hiring Fehr.

“Someone like him, with all his experience, brings in a breath of fresh air,” Brisson said. “But whether or not they choose to bring him in is not my choice. When you have a chance to spend time with him, you feel privileged.”

Does that mean that the NHLPA needs a hard-line executive director to deal with the next collective bargaining agreement talks? The current CBA expires in September 2011. But, the players have an option to extend the agreement to a seventh season (2011-12) — a choice that has to be made by May 2011.

“I’m not saying a hardliner or a softliner,” Brisson said. “We need someone who understands the landscape and understands what needs to get done, and someone who can advise in the right way. We need someone who has a fantastic vision, just like any other business.”